REFLECTOR:Confession Week!!!

Tue, 1 Jun 2004 15:23:38 -0400

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OK ! So as I said last week I was not ready to confess but then I 
went out and did something this weekend which did not cause any 
damage but was surely in the stupid category.
I took a weekend trip to Cat Island in the Bahamas. I landed at 
Hawk's Nest. Great place to relax fish swim etc. Hotel and marina and 
airport all in one. The airport runway was supposed to be asphalt 
except it was under renovation to be re-paved. I had asked about the 
runway and was told it was smooth scraped coral. 9I did not really 
know what that meant) I asked if that meant gravel and was given an 
answer that it was smooth and King Airs etc were using it. I knew 
this did not sound good for a pusher but decided to go I figured one 
landing and takeoff was probably not as bad as some of the crumbling 
strips I use in the states. ( Say Sebastian)
Well I took a low pass and the runway did look smooth and there were 
a dozen or so airplanes parked there. So I land holding the nose off 
as long as possible. The compact coral is like a gazzilion small 
pebbles as opposed to the sand I was expecting.
Thinking about the departure. I had recently applied a clear tape to 
the leading edge of the MT prop just to see how it might hold up 
since my own airport is not all that good. It worked for a little 
while so maybe the prop protection stuff they sell is a good idea? So 
now for my departure I decide to protect the prop by covering the 
outer half of each blade with white duct tape which seem like pretty 
tough stuff and really sticky. I figured as long as each blade got 
the same tape job the balance would be OK.
Now comes the stupid part ( as if I did not already fall in that 
category) I really did not think the tape which was applied pretty 
smoothly to the blades would have a big effect on performance. 
(Wrong). As I started the take off roll on this 4600 foot runway (sea 
level hot day) DA was no more that 1500 ', the acceleration was 
sluggish. As I started down the runway I was trying to get the nose 
wheel up as soon as possible and things seemed slow. There are no 
markings so you can only guess about distance but I knew I was well 
beyond my normal lift off distance. After using about 3000 feet The 
airspeed was now getting up to 75 knots and I could start to think 
about flying I was also thinking about stopping but that would mean 
another attempt and much pebble damage. I was light on fuel and only 
one passenger and the airplane was behaving like it was way over 
gross. I got off with only a 300-400 FPM climb rate, got the gear up 
and could barely climb at 100 knots. Leveling off at 1000 feet I 
could only do about 140 knots indicated at full power. I would 
normally be able to indicate about 180.
I flew for about 45 minutes over to North Eluthera where I had to 
land to clear customs and intended to remove the tape only to find it 
was almost all gone but even the sticky residue and some tape that 
was left affected the performance.
The tape did protect the prop but it could have been ugly if that 
runway had been shorter. I am sure the performance degradation was 
caused by the tape coming off and changing the aerodynamics of the 
prop. You would think an aeronautical engineer would have known that 
(I are one) I guess I thought the tape was going to stay stuck.
Not too bright!!!
Jack
N55XL
PS
When they get the runway paved ( 2-3 weeks) this is a great 
destination you can check it out on the web
http://www.hawks-nest.com
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 --></style><title>RE: REFLECTOR:Confession
Week!!!</title></head><body>
<div><font size="-1">OK ! So as I said last week I was not ready to
confess but then I went out and did something this weekend which did
not cause any damage but was surely in the stupid
category.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">I took a weekend trip to Cat Island in the
Bahamas. I landed at Hawk's Nest. Great place to relax fish swim etc.
Hotel and marina and airport all in one. The airport runway was
supposed to be asphalt except it was under renovation to be re-paved.
I had asked about the runway and was told it was smooth scraped coral.
9I did not really know what that meant) I asked if that meant gravel
and was given an answer that it was smooth and King Airs etc were
using it. I knew this did not sound good for a pusher but decided to
go I figured one landing and takeoff was probably not as bad as some
of the crumbling strips I use in the states. ( Say
Sebastian)</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">Well I took a low pass and the runway did look
smooth and there were a dozen or so airplanes parked there. So I land
holding the nose off as long as possible. The compact coral is like a
gazzilion small pebbles as opposed to the sand I was
expecting.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">Thinking about the departure. I had recently
applied a clear tape to the leading edge of the MT prop just to see
how it might hold up since my own airport is not all that good. It
worked for a little while so maybe the prop protection stuff they sell
is a good idea? So now for my departure I decide to protect the prop
by covering the outer half of each blade with white duct tape which
seem like pretty tough stuff and really sticky. I figured as long as
each blade got the same tape job the balance would be OK.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">Now comes the stupid part ( as if I did not
already fall in that category) I really did not think the tape which
was applied pretty smoothly to the blades would have a big effect on
performance. (Wrong). As I started the take off roll on this 4600 foot
runway (sea level hot day) DA was no more that 1500 ', the
acceleration was sluggish. As I started down the runway I was trying
to get the nose wheel up as soon as possible and things seemed slow.
There are no markings so you can only guess about distance but I knew
I was well beyond my normal lift off distance. After using about 3000
feet The airspeed was now getting up to 75 knots and I could start to
think about flying I was also thinking about stopping but that would
mean another attempt and much pebble damage. I was light on fuel and
only one passenger and the airplane was behaving like it was way over
gross. I got off with only a 300-400 FPM climb rate, got the gear up
and could barely climb at 100 knots. Leveling off at 1000 feet I could
only do about 140 knots indicated at full power. I would normally be
able to indicate about 180.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">I flew for about 45 minutes over to North
Eluthera where I had to land to clear customs and intended to remove
the tape only to find it was almost all gone but even the sticky
residue and some tape that was left affected the
performance.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">The tape did protect the prop but it could have
been ugly if that runway had been shorter. I am sure the performance
degradation was caused by the tape coming off and changing the
aerodynamics of the prop. You would think an aeronautical engineer
would have known that (I are one) I guess I thought the tape was going
to stay stuck.</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">Not too bright!!!</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">Jack</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">N55XL</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">PS</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">When they get the runway paved ( 2-3 weeks) this
is a great destination you can check it out on the web</font></div>
<div><font size="-1">http://www.hawks-nest.com</font></div>
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